Paper Yuri! On Ice!
by MexicAmerichick6
Summary: Phichit finds a map to a treasure that lies underground. He disappears- but not all hope is lost- his best friend Yuuri sets off to find him with the map and his sister and new friend Kenjirou in tow.
1. Phichit! On His Own

**So, this is the fic I was talking about on my profile— the one that's gonna replace 'The Silver Ring'. I kinda had this idea in my head since Spring Break. This is inspired by the video game series:** _ **Paper Mario—**_ **mainly by some of my favorite levels from both** _ **64 and Thousand Year Door.**_ **I'll work on this fic whenever I need a break from 'Blackbird's Song'.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

"Ugh, finally, somewhere where I can just get away from everything!" a young boy muttered. He was standing between a V-shaped apparatus and an arch that lead to where he was.

"Celestino may be busy meeting with his associates at the penthouse—" Phichit folded his arms. "—but like Ciao-Ciao needs to take like a chill pill, like, I'll be fine!" before he pouted, remembering the last time Celestino got after him for walking off without his consent.

"Maybe now, I could look around, just to pass the time!" the boy looked around, taking in what he needed to be aware of. He figured that he was standing in a plaza— even if, he felt something in the pit of his stomach. The cobblestone floors looked almost grimy, like leftover food residue left on a used dish; the apparatus that Phichit was in front of had some red stuff on it, making the boy think that it wasn't an innocent thing; and even though some of the people wore masks, Phichit felt that those weren't used for theater at all.

Phichit rubbed his head, mouth tilting up. He hummed, muttering to himself, "Hm, this is something that's quite funky but—" he heard something coming from his side.

"Little boy, little boy…" whispered an odd being in a purple robe. They were standing behind a stand that had a beige cloth over it, with several items on top of it.

"Oh! Are you calling me?" Phichit pointed to himself.

"Yes… come here why don't you? I have certain items I have for sale!" the person whispered to him again.

Phichit looked both ways. He didn't know if he could. What if there was nothing that caught his interest?

"Well—ooh!" his little black eyes spotted something leather-looking on the table. He walked over to it.

"I like that pouch, can I see it?" the small boy asked.

"Why of course…" the strange person lifted it up and passed it to him. "It is said that this pouch holds a map that leads to a mysterious treasure that lies right under our feet— but, this pouch can only be opened by someone with a young and noble heart." They explained.

"I myself cannot open it—as you can see." The person stated.

"Yeah, it's pretty obvious." Phichit giggled.

If they could, the person would glare daggers at Phichit for that remark, but—"If you can open this pouch, then whatever is within you may keep, will you try?" the person asked, with the slightest roll of sugar on their tongue.

Phichit had poked his cheek, shifting his body just a little. "Well, okay!"

The boy tugged on the strap that was keeping the pouch closed. He slowly pulled it off, his eye never leaving it. Once it was gone, strange lights appeared from the pouch, making the boy gasp with surprise.

* * *

 **Hope you've enjoyed this so far. Also, happy mother's day everyone! Treat your moms nicely!**

 **-MA6.**


	2. Kenjirou Joins The Katsuki Party

There was a medium sized house in the middle of the woods, just by an even larger one. A man with a pair of glasses came out, holding a red water pitcher in his hands, hoping to water the flowers that were outside. He was humming when a young man wearing a red parrot suit came, flying down from the sky.

"MAIL CALL!" he shrieked through a small microphone that was connected to his ear.

Toshiya looked up and with a smile, he greeted, "Oh, Mr. Gil, how are you today?"

The young man sighed, pulling out an envelope from his brown satchel, which was hanging from his left wing.

"Fit as a fiddle…" Seung-Gil muttered as his face just as happy as a cactus—couldn't obviously care less. He handed the envelope to Toshiya, who blinked at it.

"Oh, who is this from?" he asked, after looking up from it.

"Not aware—that's what the label is for…" Seung-Gil muttered, flapping away, his multi-colored feather glowing in the morning sun.

Toshiya grunted, walking away from the porch after he watched Seung-Gil fly away. "Honestly, his ignorance is going to get the best of him."

He walked into his house, looking at the envelope; from the kitchen, Hiroko noticed her husband and walked over to him.

"Oh, what is it, dear?" as she went over to his side.

"This came in right now… oh!" the man peeped. "It's from that boy, addressed to Yuuri!"

"Yuuri!" Toshiya chirped to his son, who was somewhere in the house. "You got a message from your friend!"

"Yuuri! Where are you?" the man called out again.

There was a shuffle coming from the hallway, and a teenage boy appeared. He looked about fifteen, a little round, but his dark blue shirt helped cover his belly.

"Yes?" he asked in a rather soft voice.

"You got a letter from that boy Phichit, here, I'll read it." Toshiya offered, opening the envelope.

* * *

" _Dear Yuuri,_

 _You know that I'm on vacation right now with Ciao-Ciao right now, so I'll just get to the point._

 _Like, remember how you said, that you'd like to travel around the world if you had a good reason? Well THIS IS IT! This is your chance, Yuuri! Like, while I was like traveling, I found this map that supposed to lead this old treasure, and since it'd be like hard to find it myself, I figured you could join and help me find it! You wouldn't want to spend the whole summer at your house, right? Please, please, come over! I put the map in here, sooo, I'll be waiting!_

 _-Phichit."_

* * *

"Well, what do you know," Toshiya told, Mari had just come out of the bathroom, wondering what all of the commotion was about. "Not only did he actually present a map in this thing," he pulled out a brown, worn out, piece of paper. "I guess he must be feeling homesick, wherever he is."

"He wants me to join him on some adventure?" Yuuri pondered.

"Oh, I don't know about it," Hiroko began, gently taking the map and looking at it. She put a hand to her chest, seeing that there were seven locations drawn upon it.

"This seems like an awful lot for Yuuri to go through." She fretted.

Yuuri pouted, folding his arms. "Phichit doesn't have anyone to spend time with his age…"

"Oh, dear, just because it's seven locations, doesn't mean it's too much trouble. After all, summer just started. "Remember that one time we traveled to that one town back a couple of years ago? We spent three weeks there?" Toshiya raised his brows to her, smiling.

"Oh, dear, they set the bridge on fire," Hiroko told, though rather sweetly to not hurt him. "And you broke your arm trying to jump over, wanting to get help." Mari cringed, wondering why.

"S-Still, it shouldn't happen to our Yuuri or Mari." Toshiya countered, lightly rubbing his son's head. "Plus, Yuuri would need some life experience, right boy?"

Yuuri shrugged. "I—I guess. I did tell Phichit…" He didn't know about this either—what if it was just another of Phichit's jokes?

"See, dear? Nothing to worry about at all," he assured his wife. "Mari, maybe you should go along as well."

"Wait, why me?" Mari pointed to herself.

"You have been talking about that strange guy that has been bothering you since elementary, so maybe it would be a nice get-away from him too!" Toshiya told.

Mari hummed, remembering about a certain young man that wouldn't stop bothering her, from putting gum in her hair or forcibly trying to take her piercings off. "That is true…" as she touched the middle hoop piercing on her left ear.

"Oh, there might be many reasons, but Toshiya are you still sure about this?" Hiroko asked him.

"Of course, dear," Toshiya told her. The woman sighed, "Of course, fine. Only, where is Phichit's location right now? Darn it, the name leaves me!" She had only heard it twice while serving Lord Cialdini his dinner a few nights ago.

"Let me see…" Yuuri gently took the letter. "Oh, he said that he's in a town called King's Pot."

"Oh, well, that's only a day on a boat," Hiroko pointed out. She smiled. "Well, if there's no trouble… then I allow my children to go on an adventure."

Mari walked away from her family. "Oh well, might as well get ready for the journey. Coming Yuuri?" she beckoned her brother, facing looking deadpanned as she walked into their room.

Yuuri tilted his glasses up, following his sister. He was nervous, never once he had ever ridden on a boat for a long period of time—let alone overnight, or gone anywhere without his parents, especially to some far off land, but it was for Phichit.

What could go wrong?

* * *

The kids had their bags packed up, clothes, toiletries, and even their saved up money just in case if they wanted to buy anything at King's Port. The next boat to King's Port would be living the next morning, so Mari and Yuuri waited until. When morning arrived, the Katsuki family walked out to the docks that were several ways away from the house, where they waited for the boat to be ready to set sail.

There was a honk, and a sailor appeared from the boat that was painted white and blue.

"Setting sail for King's Port!" he called out. Mari and Yuuri raised their hands up as Hiroko and Toshiya were standing right behind them.

"Oh, a bunch of kids?" the sailor pointed out. "You sure you want to send a bunch of kids to a rugged place such as King's Port?"

Hiroko gasped. "Rugged? Oh, I'm not so sure about this," she said.

"We're on our way to meet someone there," Mari stated rather bluntly to her sailor.

"Oh seriously? Well, even with the rugged stories about the place, I won't stop you. Be prepared to embark!" he called out.

After the kids picked up their bags, they hugged their parents, goodbye—Yuuri hugging his mother first and Mari doing the same but with her father. After they switched, Mari and Yuuri were on the boat, with their parents waving goodbye.

"Be careful, you two!" Hiroko cried out.

"We love you!" Toshiya cried out.

Yuuri was waving back at them, standing at the back of the boat. Mari turned away, pulling out a spare cigarette from the mazes of what is her hair. She lit up, causing her brother to turn away.

He had a brow raised at her, wondering if that was the best thing to do. He was pretty sure that smoking was not allowed on boats such as these.

Mari shrugged, "What? Dad hardly ever lets me smoke and this is my best chance."

Yuuri sighed, walking away from the back. He walked into the cabin of the boat, just wondering. How did Phichit require the map? Yuuri pulled it out from it his pocket, as his father had told him to store it in a safe place. Who did he get it from? Yuuri rubbed his chin as he stared at it. Does Lord Cialdini even know about this? He would be sure to know once he and his sister got to King's Port.

The sun was out the next morning, with Yuuri yawning as Mari was talking to the sailor. The docks they arrived looked very similar to the docks that they've read in storybooks, dirty, some almost destroyed, with at least one seagull around. There was a large set of stairs leading to an arc, which probably lead to the town known as King's Port.

As Yuuri scratched the back of his head, hanging onto his suitcase—the sailor told, "Alright, if you say that someone is waiting for you here, I won't stop you two. But do be warned, there are some things here that are a force to reckon here."

Mari stepped off the boat, telling him, "Will do, later!" she waved back to him.

The boat turned away from the dock, leaving the two siblings behind.

"So this King's Port," Mari noted, as Yuuri turned side to side. "Funny I imagine it having a huge fountain in the middle."

"We should get to Phichit as soon as possible," Yuuri told his sister.

"He did tell you the address right?" Mari demanded.

Yuuri rubbed the back of his head, but before he could answer, they both heard a cry.

"Hey, what are you doing? Lay off you big meanie!" cried a boy. He had blonde and red hair, wearing a khaki explorer's outfit, with a long sword tied on his back. His cheeks were puffed out, hands on his hips.

What came before him, was a guy, a little younger than Mari, with blonde and brown hair. He had two mean looking people behind, donning on black cloaks with red gas-masks on their faces.

"Why should I? You're the one who's been going around town, asking for information about the Seven Shining Rings! So right where you are, you little turd!" the blond called out.

The boy folded his arms, shaking his head at him. "Never ever, forever!"

"Hmm, looks like someone trying to act like a stubborn little monkey! Gentlemen, we're taking this little rascal back to home base, so get him now!"

The two men behind him saluted him, "Yes Sir Christophe, sir!"

As the two men surrounded the young boy, the latter cried out, "Hey, what are you doing! LAY OFF! I'll scream, I'm being honest!"

Yuuri cupped his mouth as Mari was gobsmacked. "What the? Why is that guy going after that kid?"

Yuuri shrugged but something in his mind told him they should probably step up. After all, Yuuri was a victim of teasing as much as his sister Mari, so he walked up behind the young blonde. Mari jolted, fearful of her brother, following suit.

The small blonde sensed the two people that were backing him up and scurried right behind them.

"Alright, let's see if you can get to me now, turd!" the small blonde used Sir Christophe's word against him.

The man grunted, "Say what are you dorks doing! Ain't no one stopping me from doing my job!"

That made Mari frown, her hands evolving into claws as she stared intently with distaste at him. "Excuse me? Who are calling dorks? Ya undercut wearing doof? You ask me, your head looks like an acorn from here!"

Yuuri whimpered. He had never seen this from his sister before.

"A-A-Acorn!?" Sir Christophe muttered, holding his head. How dare she make fun of his fabulous hairdo; it took his stylist five hours to get this piece of hot beauty on his head. "Sister, you know who you're dealing with? It looks like it's time to unleash the Intoxicated attack on you!"

Mari raised one brow, her face completely empty. "What?" The man and his cronies marched over to her and to Yuuri and the younger boy.

The entire scene changed. Mari, Yuuri, and the small boy were on one side and Sir Christophe and his cronies were on the other side. Mari and Yuuri turned around, just confusing about their surroundings. Yuuri looked at the boy, asking what was going on.

"Oh, you see whenever you engage in a battle with someone else, the entire scene changes as if you were on a stage with other people watching, like a play!" the young boy explained. "It's how the customs around here are. Not many people get to do things like this; it takes a certain courage to."

"Courage?" Mari demanded from the young boy. "Battle? You mean I have to fight this guy?!" she had never been in an actual combat before. "B-But we don't even have any weapons on us to fight this guy!"

The small boy waved his hand. "Oh it's easy, for beginners you just to do some jumps and punches, then you upgrade to weapons!"

"Punches you say… well, I suppose it wouldn't hurt!" Mari muttered.

"Are ya'll going to fight me now? Just the sight of you guys chattin' cramps my style!" Sir Christophe sassily told.

"HOW'S THIS FOR STYLE!?" Mari cried, sending her fist into both of the man's eyes.

"Nice punch!" the boy commented, smiling. Yuuri shrugged as if to agree.

"OW!" Sir Christophe cried. "Hey, that wasn't cool of you!" he stomped his foot. The guy's cronies came to his rescue and jumped on Mari, causing her to cry out in pain. Yuuri gasped. No!

The boy gasped. "Oh no," he told Yuuri, "You gotta go to her rescue, you can't let those guys win! They're bad news!"

Yuuri thought he could try, so with his mouth stiff, he ran over to Sir Christophe and jumped on his chest, and then again, and again. That was for hurting his sister, and that was to help out his sister take him down.

The man howled out twice. He fell on his bottom, being feeling defeated by this kid. He spat, smirking right at him. "You got some sort of spark in you, boy, I'll give you that but, I've another rebuttal for you and your little buddies!" he purred.

Oddly, they appeared in the old format again as if nothing happened, with Sir Christophe standing straight up again. He pulled out a button from his back pocket, holding it right up, "See how you'll like this!" he pressed it.

Out of the blue, many cronies dressed as the way was the blonde appeared, maybe in tens. or in hundreds.

Yuuri looked around, taking them all in. Alright, things were getting weirder. How were they all able to appear just like that? There was nothing but walls and water right around them.

"Alright, come on them!" the blonde cried out, pointing to the trio.

Yuuri silently shrieked, swinging his arms up and about as Mari jaw-dropped. The boy held onto the hilt of his katana. The cronies jumped in the air and like specks of wood burning, they landed all over them. There was laughing coming from them, as some minor screams and gripes could be heard from the trio.

"Oh there all over the place!" Yuuri carped as if there were spiders crawling.

"Yuuri! Where are you?! Hang onto me!" his older sister beckoned, looking through the massive of cronies that wanted to hurt them. She looked around for that other boy, "Hey, kid with the sword, do you know a way out this?"

"Course, this way!" he beckoned.

He managed to lead the siblings away from the crowd, with Yuuri rubbing his arms and Mari out of breath. The boy, on the other hand, looked almost completely fine, as if he had been spared from the ordeal.

"Everyone okay? If yes, let's leave this area!" The boy told them, darting off to the main plaza.

The two siblings didn't need to hear anything from him twice, them following suit.

"Wait, wait, toxic force, come right off!" Sir Christophe waved his arms around, and soon everyone was still.

The man looked both ways, looking for those darn three. When his search was unsuccessful, he huffed, crossing his arms and pouting. "Ugh, they're gone!"

* * *

The three were standing in front of the V-shaped apparatus, Mari rubbing her head.

"Wow, you guys really gave it to that guy, I'm so happy!" the boy squeed like a fangirl. "I have to give you a reward!"

"Oh, that's just fine—" Mari dismissed his offer. "But we'd really like to know your name though, kid."

"Oh…" the boy pursed his lips. He padded his chest and stated, "My name is Kenjirou Minami, and I'm a student at the school of archaeology. What are your names?"

"My name is Mari and this is my brother Yuuri." She told him. "We were asked to come here by Yuuri's friend, Phichit, who sent us thing… do you have it, Yuuri?" she looked at her brother.

Yuuri nodded, reaching into his back pocket.

"Whoa, what's that?" Kenjirou leaned in closer.

Kenjirou let out another squee as if something got into his throat and to both siblings chagrin. "Could that be?" as Yuuri held out the map, which the young student drooled at.

"You all found the map to the Seven Shining Rings?!" Kenjirou questioned them.

"Seven Shining Rings?" Mari asked.

"Yeah, it said to lead to this legendary treasure underneath our feet; as to why I'm here," Kenjirou explained.

Yuuri looked like a question mark appeared above his head, then coming figure that was what lead to that scuffle with that acorn-headed fool. Just as Yuuri nodded, a fourth voice came into the conversation.

"Well, if it isn't Mrs. Katsuki's offspring," told Lord Cialdini. His hair was done up as always, walking up to them. "It's odd meeting you two kids here, what would your mother think about this? Why are you here?" he asked, sounding as if he were in a hurry.

Yuuri told him that it was Phichit who asked them to come here.

"Phichit asked you to come here?!" he beckoned, his hair going up.

"Speaking of whom, where is he?" Mari asked.

"I've been looking for that little devil all morning!" Lord Cialdini waved his arms around.

Yuuri sighed; Phichit was at it again—running off on his own.

"I swear— I walked into his room this morning and he was gone out of thin air! I looked and saw that one of the floorboards were off by his bed, making me think that he was probably taken, or worse!"

"Whoa, whoa, hold on there, Lordo," Mari stepped up to him, holding her hand out. "What could be worse than Phichit getting taken?"

Lord Cialdini grunted, almost unamused at her comment, before stating, in a paranoid way, "Him getting stuck in a room with no oxygen—or getting crushed by a huge boulder."

Yuuri rubbed his head, "Hm, him being able to remove some floorboards would be far-fetched, I mean, he's only twelve, it'd take him quite a while to get that job done…"

Lord Cialdini was crestfallen, "Oh, I feel that you may be correct—that he might've been taken instead!"

Mari raised her brow, _you think?_ But somehow she felt pity, who would take the kid other than being on his own sometimes?

"As much as I could start a search for the boy, my work desires my attention. I leave this task to you children, farewell." The man walked off, going to a path that was on the right.

"That's it?" Yuuri muttered.

"Oh so he left the job to you all?" Kenjirou turned to the siblings.

"Apparently so," Mari snorted.

"Well if that's the case, then I know somewhere we can do research on the map," Kenjirou pointed out.

"The library?" Mari pointed out.

"The one and only!" Kenjirou fluttered his eyelashes, holding his leg up as if he were getting kissed.

"Follow me!" the boy beckoned, trotting away like a magical pixie. Mari looked at Yuuri, who only shrugged and calmly followed Kenjirou.

The young woman only closed her eyes, putting her hands behind her head. Just one day in, and they managed to make one new friend… and a new enemy.

* * *

 **I'd like to thank:** **legendofzeldarocks, TrueSapphire, and Child at Heart Forever** **for inspiring me to write this. Your fics are amazing— especially to you, legendofzeldarocks. I'm not ripping anything off, please, I just love this so much that I want to do my own take on the PM fanfic universe. Best of luck to you three, wherever you are.**

 **To my other readers, be sure to review. I'm hoping to get a lot of work done before I go on a few days off, weeks from now.**

 **MA6.**


	3. Mari! Fights With Her Claws

"Do you think it's this one?" Yuuri asked, holding a large book with wooden accents in his hands, walking over to his group. Mari and Kenjirou were looking at the lower shelves when they turned. Kenjirou quietly squealed, pointing to it.

"Oh yeah, bring it over here! It's the book of all of the treasures in the world!" he quietly demanded, gesturing to a table that was surrounded by other shelves.

Dust scattered all over the table, some of them landing in Yuuri's face. The boy coughed, waving the dust away from his face, as Kenjirou opened the book.

"C'mon, c'mon, the treasure of King's Port should be in this book," Kenjirou muttered, turning to the book's index.

"That it?" Mari pointed to a line just in the middle of the index.

"Yes," Kenjirou answered, turning to that very page.

"Treasure of King's Port…" Yuuri muttered, looking at the front title.

"Why are you even trying to look for that treasure anyway? For all anyone knows, it could some fairy tale." Mari had her hand on the table, her other raised up.

"All archeologists must find the truth in those fairy tales. I do believe it exists, why else would the Seven Shining Rings be told?" Kenjirou told her, lucky that no librarians were around. "I mean look," Kenjirou spotted the word 'treasure' in the third paragraph.

"Many rumors surround the very treasure of the town of King's Port," he read off the text. "Some say it is a massive sea of gold and jewels, others say it a very magical item, some say it could also be a massive monster, and a very small few say it is nothing more than an empty box."

"Does this have to do with the map and rings?" Yuuri pointed to a stanza that was stranded in a middle of a margin just an inch away from each paragraph.

 _-To uncover the treasure of great, take the Seven Shining Rings to the granite slate!—_

"Okay, so it's some big wall?" Mari folded her arms. "And since the treasure is said to be underground, where do we find the way to it?"

Kenjirou rubbed his chin, "Hm, well, I've heard that there is this metal hole just east of town, we could use that to get underground!"

"Here's another stanza: _Hold the map of legend before the rocky sheet; then the paths to the stones will be revealed before thee._ " Yuuri read off.

"Why does that every legend have to rhyme, I mean honestly," Mari averted her eyes, turning her body away.

"Well, for one thing, this could lead us to where Phichit might be," Yuuri told her.

Kenjirou clasped his hands together. "I can't wait to meet this Phichit! He's so lucky to have found the map first!" The three youngsters sauntered from the table, Yuuri holding it in his hands, still open before him.

"Yeah, wait, do we take the book with us?" Yuuri wondered.

Kenjirou shook his head, "Nah, just put it back, we got a hole to go down on our hands!"

Yuuri closed the book, feeling some dust land in his face again. He coughed quietly, going back to where the book came from. He knew that the book was old, but for real!

* * *

The trip to the east part of town wasn't too shabby. There were some misshapen buildings and some odd people sitting in the dark, but that didn't get on the youngster's nerves. What did though was when they passed through an arch with several articles of clothing placed over it.

"Hey you," said a very shallow man hiding in a box, causing them to turn their heads. Neither one of the three could see his eyes due to the mixed and matched patch blanket over them.

"Give me some of your hair," the odd bum demanded in a quiet, but gruff tone.

Give him some of their hair? Who was this guy? First, they had a scuffle with a guy with weird hair and now him?

"Eh, no way, bub," Mari flashed her hand at him as the three walked away.

"That is so grotty," Kenjirou gagged, shaking his head around. "Anyways," he looked forward. "Here we are. The walls to the gate were triple that of his height, barred and painted black. Some birds were perched upon them as if guarding the area. Yuuri saw a white and red sign on the right-hand side.

 **WARNING: Strange and Dangerous Beings Reside Underneath This Hole. Please Travel at Your Own Risk.**

Something could attack them even if they were climbing down. "I guess it would be the right time to find those weapons you were talking about, right Kenjirou?" Yuuri asked him, as the student was rubbing his chin.

"Excuse me, pardon me, sorry," came a very soft voice. The same strange man asked for his hair, but the voice told, "No, you may not!" and then a small hit to the man's head.

There was a young man, maybe a little over Yuuri's age coming over to them. He had soft brown hair, was wearing a hand weaved, red poncho, and a wooden pole in his left hand.

"Sorry, but I heard that you needed some weapons." The boy coughed, trying to compose himself. "My name is Guang-Hong Ji," he bowed and explained further, "and my grandmother and I own a metal shop just some shops away from here. Maybe we can help you f-find some? You know, since you're going down that thing?"

"What kind of weapons?" Mari placed her hand on her hip.

"Basically anything you could ever ask for. Swords, staffs, pistols, and even claws." Guang-Hong's hand went under his poncho and pulled out a flyer to his family's shop. Mari took it, examining it with Kenjirou and Yuuri behind her.

The flyer was rectangular shaped, with a red and blue fusion as a background. On it, were a staff and a long pistol crossing each other, with Guang-Hong's family's slogan on it.

 _ **Ji's Weapons and Metal Shop— shop for combat tools with confidence here!**_

"Hm," Mari rubbed her chin. "Interesting…"

"I like that staff that's on the flyer," Yuuri noted. "Does your family have that in their store?"

Guang-Hong nodded. "Of course. Right now, um, we're currently experimenting with elements that help increase that weapon's performance. Fire, ice, water, you name it!"

Mari raised a brow. "Is there a catch?" She didn't know they could trust him, what if he wanted to swindle them out of their money that their parents gave them?

Guang-Hong shook his head. "None that I can recall. Just come along with me and hopefully get away from characters such as these." Even though he thought it was mean, he made a snarky remark about the hair-obsessed man.

* * *

"These look interesting…" Mari commented, eyeing a pair of golden claws on a shelf. Kenjirou watched her remove them from the shelf. They were half as long as human arms, with leather fingerless gloves beneath them to keep them from falling off the user's arms. Three ruby stones were embedded on both sides of the blades, making Mari ask, "Hey, what elements do these have?"

"Those are fire claws…" said a rotund, elderly woman with a beige bun on her head, polishing a golden ball and chain on the counter. "If you swing those around, fire is sure to come out of them."

"Hm," Mari equipped them on. She stood still very still, facing an empty area of the shop. She took a deep breath and slashed the right claw into the air, causing a rainbow of flames to erupt.

"Whoa!" the young woman cried out, taking two steps back as Kenjirou's eyes were widened.

The flames died out as soon as she backed away. The old woman chuckled. "Once you've learned your way around the flames, they will be yours to master, dear."

"Hope you're right," she muttered, before turning to Yuuri. "What did you find Yuuri?"

"I found this…" A silver staff with a blue jewel at the top surrounded by a white owl, as Yuuri had it in his hand.

"Whoa, what element is that?" Kenjirou asked.

"That is an ice staff," Guang-Hong told him, hand under the jewel. "You just point the jewel at whatever, and poof! Ice comes out like how crepe batter comes out a ladle," he explained.

"Crepes…" the boy echoed, his mouth salivating over them as his eyes clouded over like no one's business.

Guang-Hong's grandmother came over and placed her hand on his shoulder. "I think you should take crepes off your mind, dear."

Guang-Hong shook his head around. "Oh, of course, nainai."

* * *

There was a medium-sized space just outside of the shop, where Mari and Yuuri were ready to try out the weapons before purchasing them. The shopkeeper said that if they tried them out, worked well, and they liked them, they could get them for half-off. It seemed a fair enough deal to the Katsuki kids.

Mari took a deep breath, staring at the dummy that was placed by the wall, just a few feet from her.

"Okay, I'm ready!" she spread her arms out, golden claws out in the air. At first, she didn't know what to do to, but when she thought of that acorn-headed turd, she thought of something. She ran to the dummy, her left hand ready to strike. She scratched the claws against the dummy's neck, causing a few sparks to crackle around it. Only a small piece of the neck was left, still keeping the head up.

Kenjirou cheered, raising one fist up. "You still got a bit more to slash, but whoo! Your turn Yuuri!"

Yuuri ran halfway, froze his own dummy, and twirled in the air. The jewel hit the dummy's head, causing the ice to break and level a large amount of its head. Yuuri's lips parted, taking the sight of splinters flying in the air before him.

"Okay, go for its legs, Yuuri!" Kenjirou told him. "Your enemy can't do anything if it's lying or stuck on the ground!" He then pointed to Yuuri's sister. "Mari, do a back slice! It's an often weak spot for enemies! Just skip around and give it a good slashin'!"

"Whatever you say, Kenj," Mari commented. She skipped on her toes, going for the dummy's backside, hair bouncing. She was feeling her heart race, anticipating. She spun her body around three-sixty, her claws slashing against the dummy's back like a driver whipping horses. With one eye closed, Yuuri aimed for the legs of his own dummy, trapping it in the ice like a bear in a bear trap. Yuuri beamed, impressed with himself. He held the staff over his head, running for the dummy. Like Mari, his heart was pounding his chest, wanting to break this darn thing already.

Mari's fire broke the dummy in half, sending the top half to the ground. Smoke radiated from the chest, as several pieces of wood were scattered onto the gray floor.

"End it!" Kenjirou called out as he swung his arm, jumping in the air.

Mari jumped, her claws diving for the chest. Her teeth gritted, pieces of charred up wood going to her face, but she didn't care. The chest disappeared, having been one hundred percent destroyed by Mari herself.

Yuuri was panting, stepping back from his work. He wiped one brow. His dummy was on the ground, wood splintered and crack, lying on the ground like a dead animal, with ice spread everywhere like Mari's.

Yuuri flopped onto his bare bottom, just craving for some water right now. He looked at the sky, his legs spread out.

Mari had her hands on her knees, her head facing the ground. There was clapping, with Kenjirou coming by, coming to congratulate them both on a training well done. His smile was even bigger, wringing his arms up and down like a mad fangirl.

There was some more radiating from Guang-Hong's grandmother, who was watching from the horizon with her grandson. The boy was smiling, giving a thumbs up.

"That was uber wicked, I'm gonna DIEEEE!" Kenjirou told them both, falling to his knees, nose pointed to the air, at the top of his lungs. It was so loud it rattled the entire atmosphere, shaking the ground. Both Mari and Yuuri covered their ears, shutting their eyes tight and their mouths turning up.

"MAKE HIM STOP!" Mari demanded, hoping for someone to shove a cork in this kid's mouth.

Guang-Hong was shaking his fists up and down, his knees touching each other, looking as if something hit him in the boing lines. His grandmother was hanging onto her heart, not being able to handle the boy's enthusiasm anymore longer.

* * *

Once everything was back to normal, the three youngsters went back into the shop, now knowing what they were going to purchase for their journey.

The grandmother was busy fanning herself, telling the kids, "You two really put a number on those training dummies. How is about this, you two keep those weapons for free, but whenever you need an upgrade on them, we'll only charge you five coins. How does that sound?"

Mari and Yuuri looked at each other, brows raised. The former shrugged, "I don't see why not."

"Good!" the old woman chuckled, as Guang-Hong was busy throwing the dummies out onto the side of the neighborhood. "Good luck wherever you three go!" she told them as Mari and Yuuri walked to the door.

"Likewise, ma'am!" Kenjirou bid, following his new companions out.

"Bye!" Kenjirou twinkled his fingers at Guang-Hong, skipping away like a happy school girl.

Guang-Hong stood straight up, puffing out his cheeks. He didn't like how they had to total the dummies, but he knew better and deflated his face, waving them goodbye.

Fortunately, the old man did not ask them for their hair, because he wasn't there, giving the three kids easy access to the gate. Once Kenjirou opened the gate, they went through with haste, eager to get down.

They went down, thankfully nothing dirty in it. When they plopped down, they took in their surroundings. There was white, but dirty granite everywhere, insinuating that this place had been underground for many, many years.

"Here we are!" Kenjirou waved his arms around. Yuuri looked around, not believing that they were under someone's feet right now.

"Now where do we go?" Yuuri asked them.

"Hm," Kenjirou gasped. "Right there!" he pointed to a set of stairs before them.

They went down, which led to a gap and then to another set of stairs that led them up. When they walked through the arch, they came across a problem. The room they were in was almost dark, thanks to a couple of fires set on the sides, but there was no way to get across to the other side. It looked like there had been a bridge and someone destroyed it, keeping anyone else from crossing it.

"Ugh, seriously?" Mari grunted.

Yuuri looked at it, and an idea popped up. He aimed his staff at the space, closed his eyes, and—

A full ray of ice appeared, the end reaching the other side and plastering itself onto it. Mari and Kenjirou were watching, the former awing at it. Yuuri had his tongue stuck out, waving the staff from left to right as if he were frosting a cake.

"Done," he breathed, stepping away to look at his work. A large, shiny, icy bridge was filling up the lost space now, giving the three youngsters a way to get to the other side.

"Nice one, bro," Mari patted Yuuri's back, as Kenjirou crossed the bridge first.

For once, Yuuri had a smile on his face.

 _And his classmate Takeshi said he was clumsy._

There was at least one more staircase to go up, and then they were led to the room with the wall.

The three youngsters looked up, taking it all in. The room was about twenty feet high with several pillars keeping the ceiling up and surrounding what the youngsters were looking for.

"The Granite Wall!" Kenjirou called out, pointing to it. He ran towards it, with the siblings following suit, eager to take a look at it. It was the same height as the room, with a black trim, several vines engraved into it, a strip running down in the middle, and where seven drawings of certain stones painted onto it.

"Whoa, look at that," Yuuri saw what looked like to be an altar in front of the wall, looking as if waiting for someone to step up to it.

"Weird, I've seen that in temples before, right Yuuri?" Mari asked.

It seemed to attract Yuuri towards it, causing him to come forward. Then, almost Yuuri jumped. A bright light flashed, Yuuri waving his arms up and about. Mari and Kenjirou looked around as seven lights erupted from the altar. The map rose from Yuuri's pocket and floated to the altar.

"What's it doing?" the boy demanded.

A copper light, which was the first light on the altar, lit up higher, touching the map. Kenjirou and Mari ran up to Yuuri, watching as the light was casing their faces. A small splash of light flickered like a dead light bulb. The map calmly floated down back to Yuuri, as if nothing had occurred.

"Check it out," Kenjirou pointed to something on the paper, a bronze-colored circle.

"Looks like a… Shining Ring!" Mari planted her hands on her cheeks, figuring out what it looked like.

"The first one, only where's it at?" Yuuri asked. The Bronze Ring looked like it was hovering over a large pond, with tentacles poking out of it?

"That looks like Lake Scale. I've read about it in school before! That's where we have to go first!" Kenjirou told, jumping up and down.

"Calm yourself," Mari told him, putting her hand on his shoulder.

Yuuri looked at his staff and gasped when he saw a number on it. A Ten…? For what?

"Hey, why is there a number on here?" Yuuri showed it to his companions.

Kenjirou pursed his lips. "Oh, that's how many life-points you have while you're in a fight. Like mine." He took out his sword and showed the ten that was on his sword too.

"Yeah, your enemies have life-points too. Why do you need them, duh! Just to fight and try to win!"

"And what happens if I run out?" Yuuri asked.

Kenjirou waved his hand, "Oh, you just get exhausted and lose… but you don't die, at least."

"And if I wanna get more life points?" Mari examined her claws, where the number ten was on the backs of the gloves.

"Easy, get one hundred points by defeating your enemies and it'll go up by five," Kenjirou told them.

"Interesting…" Mari told him.

"Well, with all this done, who's up for lunch?" Kenjirou asked his teammates.

Yuuri's brows went up. "Food?" They had been away from home for a couple of hours, and Yuuri wondered what was there to snack on in King's Port ever since they reached there.

Mari shook her head. "Oh Yuuri, food is always on your mind…"

Yuuri pouted, as Kenjirou giggled. "Hey, an adventurer always has to keep their strength up!"

Kenjirou had a point. Yuuri smirked, raising his brows at his sister. How did she like that?

* * *

 _Thank you for reading! Please be sure to review and fave and check out the rewrite of my zombie fic too!_

 _MA6._


	4. See You Fighting In The Purple Rain

Yuuri patted his stomach, as he, Mari, and Kenjirou were walking down the street. He had a nice smile on his face, commenting, "Man, that chicken ramen really hit the spot,"

Mari snorted. "Yeah, but next time, take it a little slower, it isn't a competition, dude."

"Says you, you were demanding the waiter when your beef teriyaki would arrive." Yuuri frowned at her.

"Hey, beef is an important part of protein," Mari told her. She looked to Kenjirou, "Is there a way to get to Lake Scale?"

"Correct, all we have to do is just cross a big plain to get there," Kenjirou told.

"And how long does it take to get across?" Mari inquired the student.

"About two whole days on foot." Kenjirou blinked his eyes twice with a very blank look on his face.

"What? NOOOO!" Yuuri shut his eyes, swinging his fists up and down. "We can't walk all the way there for two days!"

"Something tells me we should've ordered him a chicken salad, instead of that ramen," Mari folded her arms, muttering as her eyes dart the other way.

Yuuri pouted. "You could've put the waiter in a headlock."

* * *

Fortunately, the three youngsters managed to find a way to get to Lake Scale. It was through a motorized caravan, which was operated by a young man in his mid-twenties. The trip on caravan would take about eight hours, much to Yuuri's relief. Just when the caravan was about to take off from the more commercial spot of town, Yuuri flopped onto his back, automatically opening his mouth and letting drool out.

His then snoring sent a shiver down Kenjirou's spine, making him look at Mari with a brow raised up. Mari just shrugged, saying that he'll get used to it. They both turned to the horizon, watching the town atmosphere evolve into a more and more rural land. Yuuri curled into a ball on his right side, clutching the staff closer and closer to his chest. Little to anyone's acknowledgment, there were a few boxes that hid one of Sir Christophe's cronies right behind it. The person lifted a small device to their face, giving word to whoever was on the other end.

The caravan stopped about halfway, in the middle of the plain, to just stop and relax for a while. Kenjirou was doing some jumping jacks, counting each one, holding onto his hat. Mari was staring at the horizon, where a large, pointed mountain stood.

She took a deep breath, just taking the air in. Oh, this just reminded her of home, when after it rained, she stepped out and breathe the fresh air in. She looked up to the sky when she spotted something lavender right above. It looked puffy and large… a purple cloud?

"Check it out, everyone…" Mari pointed to the purple cloud. Yuuri, who was feeling refreshed after his nap, yawned as he looked at what his sister was pointing to.

The driver looked up at the sky. "Oh, it must be Purple Rain season right now."

Yuuri turned his head around, spotting some large lumps of green lush on the grass. He raised a brow.

"Wait a minute…" the driver looked around, "If it's Purple Rain season right now, then pardon, are we near some grass patches right now?"

Yuuri looked at what the driver referred to. "Yes, why do you ask?" There was a rumble erupting from above, much like thunder. It took the entire group aback, Kenjirou jolting. His hat bounced around on his head, nearly falling to the ground but managed to grab it in time. There was a second thunderclap, causing Yuuri to fall out of the caravan, face flat. Then, several liquid spears of lavender rained down from that cloud, like regular rain would.

The driver cried out to everyone, both warning and advising them, "Everyone get away from the grass!" as Kenjirou cried out, covering his hat with his arms. "Oh no, my hat's gonna get wet!" Unfortunately, before anyone could even embark on the caravan again, some strange fuzzy spheres erupted from the dirt, like popped zits. There were about four of them, looking like black, plastic spiked balls, only with strange googly-eyes and jagged teeth. They began to bounce everywhere, on the grass, on the road, and even near the four. Three of them jumped on top of Yuuri, who shrieked.

"GET 'EM OFF ME! GET 'EM OFF ME!" he cried, trying to get the nasty vermin off his body. Mari was covering her hair, not wanting to suffer the same fate as her brother.

"Kenjirou, what do we do?" she asked him.

"We gotta fight 'em!" Kenjirou held his sword out. "Quick!"

Mari brandished her claws out. "Alrighty, Yuuri, get a hold of yourself and fight 'em with us!"

The scene changed into a stage format. The three youngsters had their weapons brandished out, Yuuri at the back, shivering. Kenjirou was the first to strike, running over to the fuzzies, giving them a good slice. They stood still in the air, taking the attack.

"The heck are those things?!" Yuuri stammered.

"Fuzzies. Worth about three life points. They may look cute, but they can suck out yours, so attack 'em first!" Kenjirou warned them.

Two of the four fuzzies that were before them disappeared, making the third one behind them attack next. It jumped on top of Yuuri, taking two life points of him.

Yuuri cringed, watching his life points go down to eight. "Oh, well that's just mean!" Yuuri puffed up his cheeks, pointing his staff at that fuzzy. "Eat this, you, life-sucking turds!" a shot of ice pierced through the air, taking two of its life-points away, as well as freezing it.

"Alright, my turn!" Mari held her claws up. Her teeth were gritted, stomping over to the fuzzies. She spun around, going to the back of them. She swung her claws once to the right, causing the fuzzies to stiffen as if they were beaten with a whip. The trapped in ice fuzzy was broken free, but it wouldn't live another second, disappearing for good. Mari had taken life-points away from them, seeing as the last one still had one last on them. She brought down her other claw down its back, vanquishing it for good.

Kenjirou raised his hands up. Mari came back to them, huffing. Yuuri noticed four stars, just right above them.

"Look, aren't the points you were talking about, Kenjirou?" Yuuri asked him.

Kenjirou looked up and lifted his hat up. "Oh, of course! Oh, just four stars, only ninety-six points to go! No matter, there are plenty more of enemies to collect more points from!"

"I hope they give off double of what enemies there are here!" Yuuri clutched his eyes.

Once the scene turned back to normal, the driver walked up to the kids.

"Well, looks like you kids were able to take care of those cretins once and for all!" he told them. Mari looked up at the sky and saw that the cloud was ebbing away from them.

"And the Purple Rain had gone away too!" the young woman pointed out.

"Then, what are we waiting for?" Kenjirou told, going to the back of caravan and sitting in it again. "Lake Scale-a's waiting for us!"

"And so is that Bronze Ring!" Yuuri told, crawling in with Mari right behind him.

Once Mari was settled in, the driver started the caravan again, leaving nothing but a trail of dust behind them. As it disappeared from those patches, a strange, black, metal-like item was up in the air, like a vulture stalking its prey. The item had about four small propellers around it, as a camera lens was observing the moving caravan.

* * *

"Hm," hummed Sir Christophe, rubbing his chin at the scene. He was standing before a cluster of several screens, each one of them overlooking a certain location. The man turned around, a small smirk playing on his lips. He had thoughts about those three youngsters. He was perturbed by the broad with the piercings, obviously, by how she was able to punch both of his eyes in. Now that she had those fiery things, she would be sure to be a hard mountain to climb. The boy with the glasses, he seemed rather formidable, and with those ice powers in his grasp, it seemed like someone he could fight in a cave somewhere. That last one, he'd be an obstacle as well. Loud monkey he was.

He walked away, heading to do some business. On the screen that was on the right, was footage of a glass tube, with a black curtain wrapped around it.

* * *

 _Please review! The next update should come by soon!_


	5. Orb of Pure Fustration

The caravan reached the area that Lake Scale was in at around nine in the evening. Clearly, it was dark, making the three youngsters think that it was best to get to Lake Scale in the morning. Who knew what would be lurking in the shadows at that time. Hopefully, no more Fuzzies as Yuuri was still shaken up after being attacked by those mongrels.

A small fire was roaring in the middle of the youngsters, as they were either sitting on their bottoms or lying on their sides. Yuuri's body was splayed on the grass, his nose tilted to the small blades, letting them tickle his nose. The chubby teen giggled, remembering all the times mom tickled him with a feather duster whenever she was cleaning the house and he was lying on the couch.

"Geez, Yuuri," Mari commented, looking at her brother, who was on the other side of the fire. "With the fire before your body, you look almost like meat being cooked."

Yuuri shot his face at her, "Excuse me, Mari?"

"Honestly Yuuri, precisely, you look almost as a pig roast," Mari told him. She had her arms around her knees, facing him. "And most likely to what you've been eating, you know?"

Yuuri narrowed his eyes. She had a point. The food mom cooked was to die for, wherever he was. The heavens only knew what deity taught mom how to cook so divine.

"I guess…" Yuuri muttered to her.

"Yuuri, seriously. You do know what happened last week, do you?" Mari warned him.

"I think…" Of course, Yuuri did. He bent down to grab one of the potatoes off the ground when someone pointed out that they could see his butt-crack. Yuuri was wearing one of his denim jeans, thus making the movie he was putting on easier to see. That caused Yuuri to blush, covering his backside from the rest of the world. He was never a real fan of getting spectators, anywhere.

"But it's something I can't help! It's one of my very flaws!" he told, sitting straight up. He began to shake around as if he were cold.

"Yuuri, honestly, if you can't get this problem helped then, you know what happens," Mari told him.

Yuuri hummed grimly in his throat. "Yeah, I know… but I don't know how. There's hasn't been any fresh fruit in the market lately."

Mari and Kenjirou looked at each other. Mari wondered if there was anything that he knew, raising one brow to him and motioning to Yuuri.

"Well, it's not only the healthier food you have to ingest; there are other factors you must consider should you want to lose the belly." Kenjirou began.

"Such as?" Yuuri droned.

"Limitations. Have smaller portions of the foods you regularly eat. Also, a lot more exercise, such as walking, running, and lifting." Kenjirou told him.

"Yeah, just like those fights we've been in so far," Mari added.

Yuuri remembered jumping on Sir Christophe. That would've burned some serious calories if he did that often.

"I guess that's true," Yuuri admitted. He took a deep breath and sighed. "Alright, I'm gonna try to stop being such a pig. I'm gonna walk a lot now." Maybe it wouldn't hurt, when the summer was over, he'd be a whole new person to his peers.

"Now, that's the spirit, Yuuri, because we don't want a human load behind us right now." Mari put her hands on her hips.

Yuuri grunted under his throat.

x0x

The three youngsters started their expedition bright and early in the morning. Mari thanked the driver for all of his help and told him that he could go back to King's Port now. The youngsters would probably take several hours, and they didn't want their driver to get bored.

"Alright, ya'll take care now." The driver then started the caravan, driving away from the three.

Mari sighed, turning to her companions. "Shall we?" as the tree they had slept under was looming over them.

"Why quite so!" Kenjirou saluted her.

"Say Kenjirou, is there a long way—I wanna get started today," Yuuri asked him.

Kenjirou's lips formed a perfect 'o'. "Oh, Yuuri, you sure? There could be many enemies along the way, and that way to Lake Scale is pretty rocky too!"

Yuuri pulled his lips down. "Why yes…" Besides, they would need to collect those remaining ninety-six stars if they wanted to level up on their life-points too.

The young student rubbed the back of his head. "Well, then let's hop to it, to Lake Scale we go!"

x0x

The three kids were one and a half hour into their journey, Mari wiping her brow of sweat. She huffed, keeping the claws-parts of her weapons away from her face so she wouldn't get cut. She looked to her partners, seeing Kenjirou having the brim of his hat over his eyes, and Yuuri—he was panting, throwing his head around. Some sweat was falling off his face, just like a Popsicle in the hot sun. Oh, Mari made sure that she would not mention 'Popsicle' around him. Only the gods knew what would happen if she did.

Kenjirou pulled out a leather-canteen of water from his belt, swishing it around to see if there was water. Frankly, there was still some left behind. He thought about taking a drink first, but considering that Yuuri wanted to lose those stubborn pounds, he figured he could go first.

"Here, Yuuri," he held out the canteen out to Yuuri. Yuuri whipped his head and swiped the canteen out of his hand. Kenjirou let out a small cry, holding his hand out as the chubby teen chugged the canteen in. He snatched it back, Yuuri's face in a dazed form. What the heck?

Kenjirou puffed out his cheeks, flat out scolding him, "Hey! Hey! Don't chug the whole thing down! Save some for the rest of us, got it?!"

Yuuri's lips pulled down to his chin, humming something morosely. He stared down at the road. It reminded him that several years ago, he scarfed down half a pack of crackers that were for his class, which his classmate Takeshi got after him for. For the rest of the day, his classmates called him a 'cracker-monster', destroyer of crackers, until the teacher got after them for it.

He had the same feeling from that day now.

"We can't have you stopping for a break all the time," the student told him.

Something slid around on the rocky surface just a few inches away from the youngsters, almost thin as a noodle but long enough to be a broomstick. Mari was the first to notice, stopping in her tracks.

"Did anyone else see that?" she told her group, as Yuuri and Kenjirou stopped in unison behind her. Something zigzagged around the rocky earth again, leaving nothing but sheet full of dust up above.

Both Kenjirou and Yuuri were curious, looking right each other. It could be one of the enemies as itself stood up straight, though not on its feet, because it didn't have any at all. It looked like a snake, beige colored with a dark green slithery, scaly coat on top. It had at least three eyes on each side of its face, looking at the kids with extreme contempt.

"WHAT THE FRIDGE IS THAT?!" Mari demanded, pointing her finger right at it.

"It's-a Troopaviper!" Kenjirou told her, "Its native to what is around Lake Scale-! They give up about three live points each!"

The Troopaviper darted its way towards the kids, commencing a new battle. It apparently had some company, another Troopaviper of its own, and two other fuzzies (much to Yuuri's obvious chagrin).

"Oh my god… those things look nasty!" Mari griped, her face and body completely white, her mouth pulled so down that it almost looked like a banana. She hated things like those, either worms or snakes, unbearable.

Kenjirou didn't like the tone in her voice. "Oh, let's fight them!" Kenjioru was the first the first to strike. He dashed forward and sliced the first Troopaviper across its skinny chest, knocking out three of its life points.

Mari was trembling, her fire claws shaking as if she were standing in a frozen territory. Oh god, why did things like those even must to exist? Even though they didn't have any limbs, just the thought of them going over or under her feet made her insides shrivel up.

"Mari! You're next!" Kenjirou told her. There was no response from her.

"I'm going! Those fuzzies are mine!" Yuuri declared. He fired a full plume of ice right at the fuzzies, trapping them in a prison of it.

"Mari!" Kenjirou jumped up and down at her, demanding her freaking attention. The first Troopaviper slivered over to Kenjirou with rapid speed, knocking three life points away from him. The young student grew stiff, his nose pointing at the sky as he was only on one toe.

The young woman let out a small cry, as Yuuri demanded, "Mari? What the heck?"

The second Troopaviper jumped on top of Yuuri, taking two life points away from him as well.

Yuuri cried out, plopping down onto his bottom, covering his head. He was lucky that his life points had returned while sleeping through the night.

"Yuuri!" The young woman fretted for her brother. How could those things do that to an innocent person? "You dirty little mongrels! I wouldn't even use you for fishing!" She ran at the Troopavipers, slashing her claws right at them. Smoke went up in the air, the Troopavipers being spun around and around like discs. They looked charred up like meat, becoming nothing but dust.

Yuuri struggled to get up, holding out his rod. He decided to try something else as he ran up to the Fuzzies—he smashed his staff through the ice, killing the first Fuzzy. He held the staff like a baseball bat, hitting the other as if it were the ball.

Eight stars appeared before them, meaning they had twelve stars on them now.

"Ow," both Yuuri and Kenjirou whined, rubbing their bodies. They hoped those things didn't leave behind any marks—it wouldn't look good on them at all.

Mari sighed, rolling her eyes. "Oh c'mon, you babies!" she swatted her hand at them, sounding somewhat annoyed with them. Kenjirou's brows furrowed, his lips pursed, staring right down at her.

"Says you, you were all petrified, woman!" he shoved one finger at her. Mari grunted, folding her arms at him.

"Hey, at least I wasn't chomped on, you know," Thankfully. Another thing that she hated about snakes was their freaky, sharp teeth. She knew she didn't want their teeth-marks on her skin either. Her parents would freak out about it. "Better to be like mentally scarred than on your physical self!"

The young student rubbed his chin, Yuuri darting his eyes to him.

"Hm, good point," he stretched out the last letter.

"Let's just get on our way to Lake Scale. How far is it now, Kenjirou?" Yuuri asked him.

The young man scratched his head, calculating, "I'd say about forty-five minutes from now, let's bounce!" he snapped his fingers.

x0x

Yuuri scratched his backside, as the three youngsters came upon a new horizon. There on their left was a massive jumble of trees and vines, along with something twinkling behind and past it too. On the right, looked like to a large vehicle with its hood lifted right up. Oddly, there was someone at the front, their sandaled feet on the metal front of it. It was a boy in a pair of short overalls in a white wife-beater.

"Hey, you three!" a man's voice called to them, coming from the left of side of them. He had tanned skin and was wearing a pair of glasses, which were shaded by the cap on his head.

The three youngsters turned to him as the man asked, "What are you three doing out here? Anything you need help with?"

"Um, yes, sir," Kenjirou began, "We got something to do here that's top business. We're after something that resides in Lake Scale."

The man raised a brow, perplexed by what the boy said. "In, like in the water? You serious?"

Kenjirou nodded.

Mari was getting concerned. "Kenjirou, you mean we have to dive into the water to get the-"

Kenjirou shushed her, sounding like a bee surrounding a bunch of candies. They couldn't spread any information about the Seven Shining Rings or the map to random strangers. For all they knew, some people could be with those red-masked rogues.

"To do our business," Kenjirou corrected her. Mari seethed. She didn't like it when someone shushed her.

She grunted heavily. "You mean we have to dive into the water _to do our business_?"

"Dive in?" The man rubbed the back of his head. "I dunno if you wanna be doin' that, knowing how deep the water gets the farther you cross it."

The young student rubbed his chin. "What? No! That cannot be!"

"You think our important _business_ might be in some alcove underneath Lake Scale?" Yuuri inquired.

"Um, yeah, it's not like its lying somewhere here in the grass, Yuuri!" The young student turned to him.

"Dad!" cried the boy that was before the large truck. He was running up to his father, a panicked look on his face.

"What is it, son?" the man asked.

"Mr. Grubbers won't come out of the engine!" JJ griped.

Mr. Leroy groaned, rubbing his face. Kenjirou was curious. "Who's Mr. Grubbers?"

Young JJ looked at Kenjirou, his arms waving up and about at him. "He's my pet gerbil! He fell into my dad's truck engine and there's no way he can get out!"

Mari and Yuuri looked at each other. How did this kid's gerbil fall into his dad's truck engine? How did this kid even obtain a pet gerbil in the first place?

"I mean, I wanted to stick my arm down there, but my dad doesn't let me and the sticks around here are too short or thin for him to get on top of! I'm scared that he'll be down there forever!" JJ fretted and then cupped his chin in his hands.

"Well, tell you this kids, if you can get my son's pet out of my engine, I'll give ya'll a boat you can use to ride through the lake, letting you do your business." Mr. Leroy told them. "I oughta go take care of something," he walked off to what looked like to be his house.

The three kids circled around, commencing a private talk.

"Do we really want to do this?" Mari began.

"What are you saying Mari? Free boat!" Yuuri told her.

"It seems reasonable. After all, knowing how the map looks, with some tentacles pointing out of the water, we most likely have to go in deep," Kenjirou told them, holding it right in his hands. "Sides, how else are we going to find the Bronze Ring?"

"We could use Yuuri as a raft," Mari bluntly pointed out, pursing her lips out.

Yuuri growled something in his throat, like an agitated cat. "And we can use you as a paddle,"

"Alright!" The young student erupted, holding his hands in between them. Family or not, this isn't getting them any closer to their goal. "We have to discuss something then since there some big quarrel within this group: who's gonna get the gerbil out?" Kenjirou asked them.

Yuuri bit his lips in his mouth. "I'll do it," he declared, holding his hand up. "I have my ice staff, it'll be long enough to reach in and get the gerbil out."

"You sure?" Kenjirou asked him.

Yuuri nodded. It did remind of Phichit and his hamsters after all. If Phichit did go on the journey on his own, they would've seen him by now.

Yuuri stepped up to the engine, where JJ was waiting gingerly by. He took a deep breath, sticking his staff right into where the small rodent was making its sound. Yuuri jerked the top of the staff forward, hoping for the gerbil to use it as a stairway.

The gerbil purred like a cat, taking one step closer the owl on Yuuri's staff. JJ beamed, his eyes glistening as he saw in awe.

"Ahh! Mr. Grubbers!" the young boy called out, as Yuuri had him on the belly of the owl statue. Yuuri passed the gerbil back to JJ as if he were some sort of vendor at a carnival.

JJ gently picked him up, holding him up to the sky as if he were some chalice. As it was merry for JJ, it brought back memories for Yuuri. He remembered once he and Phichit were playing around in the gardens and Phichit placed his gray hamster on his head. Yuuri did the same thing and he found himself shivering, feeling the hamster slide down his neck and landing safely on his shoulder.

"Oh my gosh," as JJ brought Mr. Grubbers to his chest. "Thank you so much!" he called out to the house, where his father was. "Dad!"

Mr. Leroy came out of the house, "Yes, JJ?"

"This guy brought out Mr. Grubbers! He saved him, daddy!" he told him. Mr. Leroy took off his cap, rubbing his head as he walked up to them.

He looked at the gray gerbil that JJ was admiring in his hands, "Well what do you know," as Mari and Kenjirou walked up beside Yuuri, "Looks like you kids can do anything easily. Deal's a deal, let me the boat out for you kids so you can do your thing."

As Mr. Leroy walked away, the three kids smiled right at each other, teeth showing right out like the sun. They were one step closer to victory.

Mr. Leroy appeared on the water, driving a wooden, gray-painted boat with a small motor at the end of it. He stopped it with a smile on his face. "Okay kids, the boat's here," he stepped out of it.

"Thank you so much, sir," Kenjirou told him, walking up to it. "We wouldn't know what to do if we didn't have anything!"

Mari hummed, raising one brow at Yuuri. Yuuri pouted, folding his arms. "Ah suck it," the two kids carefully stepped into the boat, Yuuri flailing his arms quietly as the wooden surface sunk in under his weight.

Mr. Leroy and JJ were at the end, the latter waving at them as Kenjirou started the boat, cruising from them.

"Good luck you guys," the boy bid, jumping up and down. "May the heavens be with you guys on your journey!"

The kids were waving back, bidding goodbye themselves to him.

Mari crossed her leg, holding her chin up as her back was straight as a noodle. "I'd imagine he'd be far more obnoxious."

"More obnoxious than me?" Kenjirou asked her.

"No, more obnoxious than you, Yuuri's whining, and my father's snoring combined." The young woman sassily told him.

Yuuri groaned, shaking his head around. He wiped his hand on his face.

It took about at least twenty minutes to reach the other end of Lake Scale. And as Mr. Leroy stated, the water was deeper the farther someone went across.

"Okay, we're here at the end of the Lake," Yuuri stated, standing up from his seat. "Now, where do we start searching?"

A spark of yellow erupted from Yuuri's pants pocket. It was so bright, that Yuuri cried out again. Both Mari and Kenjirou covered their eyes, but the latter pointed out, "The map! It's flowing out of your pocket again!"

Yuuri watched the scene before him, saying, "You're right!" The map stood straight in the air, with no wrinkle on it. A ray from the sun appeared from it, going through the map. There, a golden circle appeared, as the rest of the ray pierced right into the murky water. That very part of the water became clear, showing a brown-dirt opening under the water.

"That's it! That's where the ring is!" Mari pointed out.

"You're right, somewhere behind—let's find a way to get in!" Kenjirou stated.

Yuuri hummed, cheeks puffed out, as he put two fingers on his temple. He had an idea in his head.

"Yuuri, what are you doing?" his sister asked. He gripped onto his staff tightly, tapping it at least two times.

"Something I read in a book once!" he told them. The jewel on his staff blared twice.

Kenjirou and Mari found themselves to be cold, as they cried out. A full sheet of ice appeared around them and under their feet.

"YUURI!" the young woman carped at her brother. Yuuri snapped his fingers. The three kids were trapped in a ball of pure ice as if they were lightbulbs in a lantern. Yuuri smiled, holding onto his staff proudly.

"See what I did?" the boy told them.

Kenjirou observed his surroundings, figuring what he just did. "You created us a forcefield, only for oxygen!" he let out a laugh. "Nice! Now, this should definitely help us out!"

Yuuri nodded, "'K," and gave the orb one kick. Since the boat was lightweight, it shifted, letting the orb fall out like a marble from a bag. Mari cried out, flailing her arms around. Water drifted past them, as the orb fell to the lake bottom. Kenjirou held onto his hat, feeling at least one jolt from contact.

Mari's teeth were shark jaws by now, looking at her brother with animosity. Sadly, she was plopped down, as Yuuri had another idea under his sleeve. Just run in the orb to get where they're going.

"YUURI I SWEAR IF YOU DROWN US, I'LL BRING US BOTH BACK TO LIFE AND MURDER YOU ALL OVER AGAIN!" the young woman cried, as the orb trotted down the lake bottom.


	6. Cubes Away and The Deadpi Arise

**For anyone who might ask: "Where's Viktor?!" "He needs to be there for them right now!" About that, he's not going to appear yet. That's all I can say.**

x0x

Mari was sitting on a stone-cube, with her arms folded before herself and her left leg over her right. Her mouth was an exponent sign as if she were some child in a timeout.

The orb was at a side, with a large jagged hole on its right edge like an egg, docked on a sort-of mini-shore, inside of a cave that the kids were in.

"Hey, I didn't drown us, now did I?" Yuuri told her, a smile on his face as he held onto his staff.

"As kooky as it is," Kenjirou began, as he had skipped over to them and paused, though still skipping in place, "It's true!" he giggled, skipping away from the two siblings.

Something garbled in her throat, as she shook her fist right at her brother, "Next time I get to use my powers for transportation!" Yuuri already made a bridge and a giant hamster ball with his ice, so it only made sense that Mari did next.

Yuuri pursed his lips up, rolling his eyes around, turning his chest away from her. "Fine," and then held his hand out, taking note of Kenjirou being far ahead of them. "Wait up, Kenjirou!" as he trotted up to him.

Kenjirou was on a cement slope that was tilted diagonally up to the right, posing a bridge to walk on. The smaller boy was smiling, with his forearms straight horizontally with his hands swinging around like leaves. "Oooooh! Look at this!" he sang, a smile on his face. Yuuri stopped right by him before he pointed down at what was at the bottom.

Nothing. Just a pitch black sheet below them.

"This baby must go down all the way to the center of this earth!" Kenjirou told pointing. Yuuri was looking at it too, as he and the former faced each other. "Who knows how long this must go!"

"Yeah, yeah," Mari trotted over, flapping her hand and going past them. "Save it for the letters for back home, you math-nerds."

That made both Yuuri's and Kenjirou's mouths become straight before they joined up to her.

On each side of the slope, was a bluish-gray, half-cut, cement pillar with a strange ornament, on top of them. They looked almost like octopi, their heads smooth and around, with water falling out of their mouths like waterfalls, to the endless, mysterious depths of the dark chasm.

The three kids came across an arch, styled almost royal-like, which had a burning flame on each side. Past it was a gray, square tile floor, as if for dancing. However, there was nothing around it that linked it to dancing, though. Instead, when the kids reached halfway of the room, they noticed three arch-shaped cells on their left. After Kenjirou pointed them out, they trotted over, wondering if anything was inside of them.

Right when the three looked like prisoners stuck in a dungeon, something rumbled right behind them. The kids turned around as if they had question marks over their heads, when three tiles right before where opened, revealing three strange creatures before them.

Again, they looked like octopi, only they didn't have their flesh or organs on them, just their bones where they all had to be.

"Eek!" Yuuri cried out, his curled up knuckles on his right cheek.

Without wasting any more time, the three strange octopi slid towards them, bringing them into a battle for encroaching onto their home with their consent.

The three kids were on their respective side, with Kenjirou tapping his head, trying to find information about these strange things.

"Kenjirou!" Mari demanded him. "Do you know anything about these things?"

"I'm trying to find information about them!" he stomped his foot onto the ground. "Alright, um, these things are Deadpi, the obviously deceased versions of the octopi that live around here. They have nine life points on them, so let's get 'em!"

Yuuri let out a war cry, unleashing an icy beam with his staff at the first one. Sadly, there was no effect. The beam only caused the deadpi to be knocked back like a balloon, sending the beam up to the ceiling.

Yuuri's mouth fell down as a reaction, "Oh no!"

The deadpi lifted up one of its bones, allowing it to spin up in the air, and slapped it towards the boy before it.

The bone hit Yuuri on his forehead, causing the boy to yelp out in pain. The eight on his staff went down by one, causing him to have only seven points left. Yuuri shook his head around, staring at his staff in terror. "No! I can't be doing this!" They didn't have anything that could help rebuild his life points up and what not.

Sadly, as if to mock him, the second deadpi spun around and around towards Yuuri and with its bony appendages, slapped him once and twice on his face and body. The deadpi spun around back to its spot, a small hint of triumph in its movement.

"Yuuri!" Mari called out for her brother; Kenjirou shrieked. The latter called out, "You cowards! You're never supposed to use your bare appendages on your enemies; only your powers!" he then fell on his knees, as if he lost something and was in the pouring rain. It was at that point, the third deadpi lifted up a bone like its first companion, throwing it at Kenjirou. He caught sight of it, brandishing his sword out, and slicing that bone in half. The bones pieces fell to the ground as if they were nothing but dead tree leaves.

"I'll take care of this!" the smaller boy declared. He zipped his way down the stage, giving the second deadpi two slices of his sword, taking away about seven of its life points.

Kenjirou returned back to his spot, while Mari ran her palms on her brother's face. She then scowled and without any words, she zipped over, and slashed her claws at the first and second deadpis, for the former not taking her brother's attack and the latter for seriously harming her brother. She took away six life points away from the first one with her teeth gritted out on her face, as she killed the second one behind it. It disappeared, giving the youngsters six points so they could level up on their life points.

Mari placed a hand on her chest, holding her brother's head on her left hand. "I did it, I killed the deadpi that you, Yuuri."

Yuuri smiled gingerly as if he were under anesthesia. "There are still those two left though…"

"Care to do the honor, Yuuri?" Kenjirou giggled under his hands.

"You know I want to!" the boy told him. He stood up straight, brushing himself off. He ran over to the one behind, wanting to crush it with his staff while either Kenjirou or his sister would handle the last one.

Yuuri jumped in the air, holding his staff behind his head, hair flying in the air. He crashed the owl statue on the monster's head, causing a crack to occur, and taking away six of its life points. He crashed it again, giving him another six points.

"OH YEAH!" Yuuri raised his hands in the air, shaking his staff around and around. He ran back, telling his comrades, "They're all yours now!"

"Leave it to me boys, I oughta send these things to the crematorium!" Mari declared with a snap of her fingers.

She simply skipped up to the remaining deadpi, spun around at least once, and then slashed her right claw against it. Another six points arose, meaning that the battle was over now and the kids had thirty points in total now.

"We did it!" Yuuri raised his hands up in the air.

"Finally," Mari told, holding onto her chest. "Now, let's see if there's a door out of this area."

Just as the moment she said it, Kenjirou literally pointed out, "Look!"

The third cell's bars were lifted, leaving nothing but debris and ground holes behind, acting a passageway for the kids. Without any words being uttered, the three children scampered their ways towards, smiles right on their faces.

It was dark, where the kids were at, as they had run down a few stairs, Mari standing right behind of Yuuri, holding onto his shoulders. They all looked wide-eyed and curious, as Kenjirou tipped up the brim of his hat.

"Where are we now?" Yuuri asked his companions, as he faced whatever was right in front of him in the dark.

"I have no idea," the student answered. He pulled something from within his shirt, a long match. "Hold on," he bid and then ran the red end on the wall, igniting a small spark on top of it. Kenjirou smiled, holding it right up like a priest's goblet. "Here we go!"

The wall was lit up slightly, letting the group see each other clearly in the dark. Kenjirou directed the match to the horizon, which lit up what the kids were above and in front of. There, was a large, brick room with a red, arched door on the right; a very large cube in the upper right corner, with another smaller cube right next to it.

The kids walked down to the bottom, Mari looking up to the ceiling, as Yuuri slowly made his way towards the door. It carried a silver padlock, with chains coming out of every corner, keeping it locked tight. Yuuri grabbed onto it, giving the door a shake, but no result came out of it. The boy sighed, turning to Kenjirou, who was right behind him.

"What do you think could be behind it?" he asked.

Yuuri shrugged as he rubbed the back of his head.

Mari was by the two cubes, inspecting them. "Hey, guys, check these out."

The boys shuffled over. Kenjirou poked the large cube.

"I feel like we oughta find the key to that door," Yuuri gestured to the locked door right behind them.

"Why's that?" Mari shrugged at her brother.

"I feel like that's where we have to go; where the Bronze Ring might be,"

Kenjirou hummed, rubbing his chin like some mystery novel detective. He gave the smaller cube a kick—which caused it to light up like a bulb, giving off a yellowish color. The larger cube gave off a purplish light, cascading up into the air.

The small boy's mouth was downwards, having been jump-scared by what he saw. Yuuri saw it go up and declared.

"Look! It looks like it's near some ledge, right where the key might be. Kenjirou, can you kick that small thing again?"

"Um, okay!" The student kicked the cube again, thus bringing the purple one back down to the surface.

"Alrighty…" the chubby teen breathed, setting one foot on the small one, as Mari came close to him.

"You be careful up there, got it?" she demanded. How would she explain to their mom and dad that Yuuri got hurt underwater?

"I'll be fine when is there not something around?" he said, as his hands and knees were settled on the cube's surface. "Alright, kick that cube again!" he pointed to it. It was Mari's turn, knocking it with her foot with a straight look on her face.

Yuuri's stomach flopped, ribs expanding as the prism he was on floated right up. There was nothing much around, other than the air and a few insects on the walls. Mari and Kenjirou were growing smaller and smaller by every foot that Yuuri went up. The latter smiled, keeping his hands over his eyes. He giggled, jumping on his tippy-toes and waving to him. The chubby teen giggled, waving back to him. Yuuri couldn't help but think that this would make a heck of a story once he and his sister met up with their parents again, along with their new friend.

Yuuri's eyelids blinked repeatedly, as the cube halted by the ledge again. Yuuri stood up, brushing the residue from his pants. The ledge was sort of narrow, but nothing impossible for Yuuri to walk down. The chubby teen set his staff out first, and then took two steps down the stone pathway.

"Look, he's doing it!" Kenjirou said to Mari. The young woman stared at her brother with a small chuckle resonating from her face.

Yuuri gnawed on his lips, seeing something circular shaped on the end. It was the key, capped in a silver coat, designed like one meant for a pirates' treasure chest. The boy plucked it right up, tossing it up into the air and capturing it back into his hand.

"I got it! Coming back down now!" Yuuri called out to his companions, holding the key right up. The young student quietly squeed to himself as Yuuri raced to where he arrived from. The chubby teen took a minor breath, his hair looming up in the air as he was brought back to the surface, back to his companions. Once the cube was, Yuuri hopped off, stomach swishing up in the air.

"Now, let's get to that door!" he said.

The three kids walked over, with Kenjirou holding his fists up beside each other. "Ooooh, I can't wait to see what's behind that little red sucker!"

Yuuri inserted the key into the hole, turning it to the right, where a click was heard. The chain on the right was removed, swinging away like a monkey on a vine. It opened automatically, allowing the kids to walk through with ease.

"Oooh, what room are we in now?" the student wondered. Fortunately, there were some lit up torches on the sides of the room, making it easier for the kids to see. Yuuri scanned the walls and took notice of the various chains that were laden on the walls like Christmas decorations. Where were they? In some dungeon room?

A loud _shink!_ sound radiated in the air, as a series of spikes appeared from certain areas of the room, appearing as a maze from a bird's eye view. Mari, Yuuri, and Kenjirou shrieked, their hairs rising and becoming just as tall as uncooked pasta. Mari and Kenjirou had clanged onto each other's shoulders, as Yuuri had his left leg over his groin as if running away. The spikes were almost to Yuuri's calves, and their tips were just as sharp as knives, insinuating that they should not be touched or stepped over if they were down.

The spikes retreated back into their holes.

Mari retracted herself from Kenjirou, realizing that she was touching the loud kid. With a step, she commented, "We oughta walk on a clear path so we don't get hurt,"

Yuuri could agree more, regaining his regular stance. The kids walked down the path free of those as nasty spikes, going to left and then to the right. Once in the middle of the room, they circled around a square of spikes before reaching the path by them, just to be fair.

When the kids journeyed to the road on the right, the spikes appeared once again, but that wasn't what they were worried about. There, was a Fuzzy. It was the same color as the before-ones, only with a few green specks on them.

"I got this," Yuuri speed-walked to that Fuzzy, bashing his staff over its little head.

There were three Fuzzies before the group, but fortunately, Yuuri was able to trap the first one in a block of ice. Kenjirou delivered two slashes to the one behind. One of them tried to suck out Mari's life points, but the young woman stepped away in the nick of time. After two fiery storms and the ice breaking and taking two points away from that fuzzy, the kids had eight points on them now.

The young woman patted her chest. "Ugh, I think we need a break; stupid fuzzies."

Yuuri had his lips pursed out, trotting to the exit. He touched the stone slab before them, and it automatically lifted up. There was a bluish-gray, narrow, hallway before them. There was nothing special around, other than a treasure chest that was just three tiles away, next to Yuuri. His lips were a perfect 'o', with his brows furrowed and curious, he came over to it and carefully opened it up.

Yuuri snuck his hand in and… retrieved a bluish-green orb from it. It was apple-sized and with gilded lines streamed over it as Yuuri held it in both hands.

"Ah!" Kenjirou stepped over to Yuuri. "It seems you found a life-orb. My brother once had one of those but it vanished. These things helped you regain your life points."

"You serious?" Yuuri wondered. He held it in his right hand and crushed it in. Six lights erupted from it, covering his hand like a blanket. Something warm radiated through his body, as his shirt sleeves fluttered in the air. Yuuri saw the numbers on his staff go from seven to ten.

The sensation disappeared as Yuuri was in awe. "Neat… If we find more of these, these things should help us on our journey."

"'Course," Mari commented. She and Kenjirou would be due for one really soon if they didn't collect enough points to level up on their life ones. She peered over to the horizon and saw three strange figures right before them. They had sat gingerly until they turned around and saw the humans before them. "And I think we should probably go right now because I think I see a couple of the deadpi right by us."

Where the deadpis were was a dead end, only with another portrait of an octopus there. So Kenjirou motioned for the siblings to run into a hallway that was nearby them and ran. The two siblings ran right behind their intelligent comrades, not wanting to lose any more of their life points to those darn things. After that, the door was slammed shut without a word.

x0x

 **Please review! And don't forget to fave and follow! More will be shown soon!**


	7. Juicy Sweet Fruit

_**MERRY EARLY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!**_

x0x

The next room they were in had a more… different layout. Instead of it being dark, drabby, or humid, it was rather, well-polished. The walls and floors were made with brownish orange stone planks, with an octagonal well in the middle. Kenjirou was the first one to race up to it, placing his hands on the edges.

Just a few seconds then, something shot up from the well, sending water up. Kenjirou held onto his hat, one foot in the air. Both Mari and Yuuri were staring right up at it, the former's lips being pulled down.

A large, snake-like entity was peering down right at them, like a bully to a small child. It was black and dark-green striped, with a large, red eye in the middle.

 _The heck?!_

That was on each of the kids' minds, as the strange being before they inquired vehemently, "Who is treading here in my very home?!"

Mari pursed her lips up, raising one finger up. "Um, us…?" her brows went down on her nose. "We're here on a mission…" her knees shook from the inside to the outside.

" _NO HUMANS HAVE ANY BUSINESS HERE!"_ the strange creature bellowed, his form waving around and around like a flag. Pieces of debris fell from the ceiling as the three kids either cried out or covered themselves from it. While Yuuri was crouched on the floor, Kenjirou pulled out his sword. Even though it would be due for a sharpening, he called out, "Time for a new battle!"

The three kids ran and stood right behind each other, their weapons right before them.

"Yeesh," Yuuri muttered, eyeing the size of the serpent-like entity.

"Okay, considering its size," Kenjirou began, "I'd say it has about twenty to twenty-five life points to its name!"

Mari zipped right towards the creature, her right arm out to strike it. She struck the monster horizontally, three rivers of flames cascading on it. The monster bellowed out, holding its head back. Yuuri aimed his staff at the monster's face, sticking one tongue out and closing one eye. A pillar of ice manifested from the owl statue, the ice itself wrapping around the face, making the creature cry out once more.

The ice then broke off, the creature growling at the children. "How dare you! You should know better than to fight I, Odin, the beast of this very domain!"

Mari harrumphed. She would make a snide remark about it, but it was better to put him out of commission instead. She hopped up towards Odin, sending a long row of flames down his chest.

Odin cried out, his head thrown back like a rubber rod. He then looked at the three with massive disdain, heat growing in his eyes.

"Foolish children!" he bellowed, then opened his jaws.

"Oh my—he's gonna—!" Kenjirou began, but Odin's head dove forward and took bites from each one of them. Yuuri howled; Mari grunted; Kenjirou squealed like a small child. Each of them had lost two life points from that attack.

Kenjirou pouted, frowning right at the darn thing. He jumped, giving out a cry, the katana's blade pointing right at Odin's eyes. He rammed it in, one eye shut. Odin cried out, as Kenjirou pulled it out and shoved the sword back in.

"You certins!" Odin the creature cried out. Kenjirou was standing back with his companions. "You have destroyed more than half of twenty life-points!"

"And we'll put you out of business if you don't let us though," Mari rebutted.

Yuuri pursed his lips. "I'll take care of this!" he tapped his ice staff twice, just like how he did in the boat. With one tongue sticking out, a beam of ice erupted from the top. Odin cried out, the beam hitting his face and breaking apart like glass. Odin growled, his head going for Yuuri again.

"Eek!" he peeped, as Odin took three of his life points away. Yuuri cried out, gasping. No! He had regained these points. Frowning, Yuuri fired another ice beam, causing the creature's face to freeze. The ice broke and then Odin took another bite of him. Yuuri was down to five life points, less than the remaining he had before.

"That's what I'm trying to avoid now!" Yuuri shook his fist at him. "Eating too darn much and not being able to fit in that pit you call home!" he frowned.

Odin was perplexed, "Huh?"

Yuuri fired another beam, sticking to the creature's face again, taking two more life points. Odin fell to the side, the ice breaking the glass. He groaned as if exhausted from such harsh work, shutting his eyes, now defeated.

"Look!" Mari pointed out. Twenty points had erupted after they defeated Odin, manifesting just above them. They had fifty-eight points now—which was shabby, but there were smaller enemies around to help that.

"Whoo! It's only our first day and we're on key!" Kenjirou danced on his tip-toes. Then, there was a glimmering light radiating before them. Yuuri, befuddled, stared at it—coming from the well that Odin originated from. The white-rays shimmered, and several, red, shiny, round objects erected from it.

Yuuri gasped with complete joy. "Apples!" The boy thrashed his hands up and down. Just what he needed and wanted right now. A snack. They had been fighting monsters and evading traps the entire time they were below. Yuuri ran over to them, lifting as many as he could carry in his arms. Mari and Kenjirou stepped over to him, marveling in what he had collected. Yuuri passed one to Kenjirou, who pressed his thumbs into the skin to make they weren't rotten or too soft. Mari took a crunch out of one, her eyes shutting in absolute joy. She moaned, the juices sliding away from her tongue and down to her throat.

"Nice," she commented through the mush in her mouth, pointing to it.

"I know, right?" Yuuri chimed, taking a bite out of it.

"And it's helping regain our life points too!" the young student commented, gnawing his. They walked away from it, carrying some of the apples on themselves, believing it would be best to bring some back home.

While Yuuri had had something on his mind. All this time they've attacked, letting some random actions exterminate their enemies, never giving any mind to them. "Y'know, we should really start naming our attacks…" Yuuri told his companions.

"Why's that?" Mari asked him. They entered a hallway, arched shaped and brick-laden, moss hanging from some areas.

"It just seems weird that we don't; otherwise we'd be confused as what we may throw out, y'know?"

Kenjirou's cheeks moving around, pausing, "Good point. I agree with what you said, Yuuri."

Mari was the first to do so. "If that's the case, I'll name mine, fire-slash, heat-spin, and flame-hack."

"Mine will be, ice-rain, icy-block, and cold orb!" Yuuri said.

"Blade slice, defense, and steel jab for mine." Kenjirou simply pointed out, halfway done with his apple.

x0x

The walls were made of steel.

There was an array of screens in the room's center, displaying every space, every room of the facility to anyone before it. On the right, was a large steel slope, with a large, bright red leather chair on it.

"What, speak louder!" a man who was at the very screens demanded, slamming his fist on the surface.

"Sir, even when we have pinpointed the very location of the Bronze Ring, we have yet to achieve it." The very goon stated, right through his red mask.

"Of course," Lord Karpisek muttered to himself. Why would they find it in plain sight? Where in all that water could that ring be?

"We have found a strange boat lingering within the lake, judging by what Sir Christophe has found—we suspect that those three children may have found a way into the lake." The goon reported.

"And so, they can make off with the ring before us?!" Lord Karpisek thundered, his fist slamming on the desk. "Blast them! Soldier, find a way to those children. Then, once they encounter the ring, attack them. Understood?"

The goon bowed down. "Of course, sir."

"Good, you are dismissed." Lord Karpisek narrowed his eyes at him. Once the goon left, the man turned around.

"My men outfoxed by a trio of youth…" he harrumphed, just snarky about the very thought. He inverted himself to the screens, seeing one that was in the middle of them all. "Those children may know of the one that is being held here…"

His mind radiated with a plan. The man rubbed his chin—and then snapped his fingers all while a wild smirk played on his very face.

He pressed a button, which sent off a hologram of the man desired before him. It was a guard, standing by the cylinder with the black curtain wrapped around it. "Yes, Lord Karpisek, sir?"

"Listen, and listen well, guard, I need you to perform this certain task…" Lord Karpisek began.

x0x

 **I can't go on guys, this is highest I could get to. I've things to do on Fictionpress right now; next chapter, we'll jump right into the battle for the Bronze Ring. If you're curious, my FP penname is 'The Youngest Mistress'.**

 **See ya' later!**

 **MA6.**


	8. The Bronze Ring's Conclusion

The room was circular, with bluish-gray bricks, just like the hallway. The only difference was that certain plants and flowers cascaded down and in between bricks, showing that the room had aged after so long. The floor was made of bricks as well, with strange, yellow spheres at the bottom. Mari rubbed her shoe at one of them, wondering what they were for when the floor shook like before.

Kenjirou pulled out his katana, ready to face what was lurking this very room. There, at the very horizon out of the room, was a semi-circle hole and in it was murky, black inky water. As Mari had her fire claws out, a creature erupted from it. It was very similar looking to the Deadpis, only with dark-yellowish-orange skin, six, long, thick tentacles, and yellow and red deadly looking eyes. It screeched, only showing off one large, razor-sharp tooth… that held onto a circular piece at the very bottom.

"The Bronze Ring!" Yuuri pointed out to it. There was now no time to waste, and speechless, Yuuri raced towards the monster, holding his staff.

"Yuuri!" Mari bellowed for her brother.

"For Phichit!" Yuuri flat out war-cried, sending ice-rain out towards the monster—more like Mutant-Octopus. The ice glazed itself all over the monster's face, it muffled screeching behind it.

Kenjirou jumped in the air, slicing the Mutant-Octopus right across the face. He gazed at the monster's head and noticed there were some neatly arranged dots on it in a six-by-five format. This thing had thirty life points it? Kenjirou wished, going back to his spot.

Mari slashed horizontally and vertically at the monster, teeth gritted out. The monster jiggled like gelatin, screeching something nasty as Mari was back with her friends. The Mutant-Octopus broke itself free from its icy-prison, ice flying towards the group. Yuuri shielded himself from the ice as he grunted.

The Mutant Octopus shot its tentacle from the right at Yuuri, smacking his belly not once, but twice. "Eughh," the chubby teen carped, rubbing it, not enjoying the sudden violent contact.

The Mutant-Octopus chortled, somehow, taunting the boy—another tentacle going forwards, for his sister and companion. Kenjirou held his sword out ready to defend himself as Mari's claws overlapped each other but sadly, the tentacles tied them up together. Kenjirou had his cheeks puffed as the latter screeched for dear life. Oh man, as Mari struggled to get her arm out, it was like a Troopaviper wrapping her up, only more painful, and gross.

The Mutant-Octopus knocked them down one, two, three, times, like an ax, Kenjirou feeling nauseous. The Mutant-Octopus then set them free, them back on their feet again, oddly. Kenjirou's mouth was cupped, wanting to vomit, but Mari shook her head, rapidly covering his face in order to avoid so.

Yuuri sent out icy-block, trapping the Mutant-Octopus so it wouldn't attack them. "Quick, Kenjirou, do you know how many life-points this thing has now?"

"Under thirty clearly, under the twenties by now." Kenjirou jumped in the air and delivered a blade slice at the Mutant-Octopus, putting it to about thirteen points by now.

Mari delivered another fire-slash at the monster after, and then the Mutant-Octopus broke itself free the ice, Yuuri struck it once more, deleting some of its life points away. Kenjirou had a smile on his face, knowing that this monster would be defeated very soon. Oh, he loved it when villains and enemies were defeated by the heroes. Kenjirou jumped up and delivered another steel-jab, laughing at each individual jab went into the creature's eye. The creature bellowed out of complete pain, obviously not enjoying this boy's attack on it. The creature growled at three kids. As a violent rebuttal, it stuck its tongue out, bellowing something nasty at them, like a curse word. The tongue, like the tentacle, grabbed the three kids, Yuuri screaming like a small girl. Mari cried out, "Not again!" as Kenjirou covered his mouth again. The Mutant-Octopus banged them on the ground, one, two, three more times, the kids having fewer life points on them once it let them go.

Yuuri was panting, hand on his heart. Oh no, he hoped his newly collected hadn't been crushed by the sudden impact. With no other choice, Yuuri munched on an apple, regaining his life points. Once it was done, the chubby teen delivered another ice-beam as revenge. The Mutant-Octopus cried out, even louder than before. It rattled it tentacles rapidly than it had before. The kids covered their ears, knowing that it was far deafening than Kenjirou's teenage fangirl cries. Yuuri stomped his foot on the ground, wanting to stop already.

The Mutant-Octopus flopped onto its back, barely alive. It appeared like it was panting, heavily. Mari cringed, though, morosely; to euthanize it, Mari engulfed it in another bath of flames.

As a result, the Mutant-Octopus's tentacles were straight up, though now stagnant. Its eyes were shut, thought the teeth were still visible. It dove back into the water, like a rock, with a splash. Then, as if magically, what erupted was the Bronze Ring, falling to the ground with a _clink, clink!_

The three kids' faces beamed, seeing the Bronze Ring right before them. They ran up to it and with Yuuri in the middle, he plucked it up. Mari and Kenjirou had large smiles on their faces, them admiring the ring along with Yuuri.

"Can't believe we finally got one of these…." Mari crooned with hands over her heart.

"I know…" Yuuri trolled, but then realizing, "Hey, who's gonna wear this thing?" as he held it up.

"Pretty funky question, Yuuri," Kenjirou squealed.

"It should go to whoever finished the monster," Mari proposed, arms folded. "Hey, that should be our thing!"

Yuuri looked at his sister, "Mari, you're the one who killed the monster, you should wear it," holding it out for her.

Mari strained something weird.

"And look, it even matches your eyes!" Kenjirou complemented, pushing the ring towards her.

The young woman bit her lip, "Well, if it does…" and then plucked it up and rammed it down her ring finger. She held it up, Kenjirou dancing on his tippy-toes. Yuuri lightly smiled. Now all that was left, was to find all the other six rings, and see what lies behind that darn wall. Then, out of the blue, a glowing sensation erupted, the rays gleaming on the kids' bodies. Kenjirou and Yuuri turned around and saw a large circle on the other edge of the room. Kenjirou pointed that it was maybe a way out, and the three kids ran towards it. They just wanted to be out of this darn place. It stank worse than Yuuri's socks.

x0x

The kids landed on an area somewhere far away from Lake Scale. Yuuri grunted, hands touching the grass once more. Mari was shaking her darn head at it, but then the wind blew in their direction, taking her aback.

Yuuri was perplexed as Kenjirou gasped. What the? How did _he_ find them here? Mari growled quietly at Sir Christophe, who was sitting on a floating black platform and glaring at them with a menacing smile.

"I know you kids got the first ring; now, in the name of my boss, hand it over!" the man demanded, pointing his finger at him vehemently. Mari frowned, still not enjoying this man.

"Yeah, like we'd give OUR ring to the likes of you, turd!" she griped at him, shaking her fist at him.

"Well, this should make you kids otherwise!" Sir Christophe sing-sang, pressing a red button that was behind him. Yuuri wondered what he meant as a black screen appeared beside him, flickering to life. On it, was a boy with his head hung down as his wrists were held up by blue chains… That made Yuuri's jaw drop, eyes going wide with much shock.

"Phichit!" Yuuri hiccupped, dropping his staff and falling to his knees. Sir Christophe laughed at them, as Mari carped at the man as Kenjirou was fuming at him, "You brute! I can't believe you'd do that to him! Even some villains have to have some sort of morality!"

"And I ain't one of those some villains, girlfriend!" Sir Christophe had his lips pursed up, shaking his hips at every word.

Yuuri felt helpless. He hated this feeling but instead of sulking, he pointed his finger at him, "We are gonna tell!"

"Who are you gonna tell?" Sir Christophe teased at him.

"Our friend's guardian!" Yuuri snapped, standing right back up.

"Hah!" Sir Christophe threw his head back and barked at him, "Even if this kid's guardian has an army behind him, there ain't no way he'll find out where he's being held!" he chuckled a tad.

While, Kenjirou growled under his lips, firing at him, "If he can't then we will; there's no way we're giving you the ring; it oughta be obvious that you're gonna go and find the rest, and we're not gonna stand for it!"

Mari nodded, "Uh-huh, I agree with him; you and what army, bug?!"

"What army? What army? Look around you kids!" the man's gestured around, displaying several minions that again once appeared from right out of the air.

Though, instead of feeling like some sort of easy target, the three kids held out their weapons. There was no way in heck that this man was going to beat them with some army. The minions pulled out long, black guns, pointing them at them as red dots appeared right on their skin. Mari wasn't going to have it, running for the first minion she saw, delivering a fire-slash at them. The ones that were close to their victimized comrade, firing right at Mari.

Yuuri unleashed another cold orb, aiming it at three of the minions. It caged them up like bugs in a jar, them firing at the ice to break free, but to no avail. "Hey!" the one in the middle carped with a fist raised.

Kenjirou held his katana out, the blade over his chest, protecting him from two beams that tried to hit him. Another two more red beams were destined for his face, but he held before him, avoiding such fate. Goodness, these kids came out of a battle for a piece of jewelry and they had to still fight some enemies? What a darn shame. Sir Christophe's teeth were bared out, demanding his minions to at least pounce on one of those kids for the ring.

Yuuri glared up at him and fired an ice-beam his way. Sir Christophe cried out, barely averting the beam as Yuuri wanted it to hit him in the face. He laughed at Yuuri telling him, "Even with your pretty little popsicles, there's no way you can hit me; you'd need a top-notch _archer_ for that!" stomping one shoe on the platform. Unfortunately for him, he lost his balance, falling off from the platform.

"Oof!" the man carped, landing on his back.

"Sir!" his minions bellowed, Kenjirou hold out his sword for them. As they ran, Mari and Yuuri looked right at each other, then backtracked, and then again, ran. Kenjirou held onto his hat, beckoning them to please wait for him.

They ran for about twenty minutes until they reached a tree that was large enough to cover them. Mari held onto her knees, panting. She found a rock and sat right on top of it. "Alright," she breathed as Yuuri was on his bottom and Kenjirou was sitting Indian style beside him, "this thing ought to have special powers on it," holding the ring before them. Of course, why else would it be one of the 'Seven Shining Rings?'

"What do you think it could be?" she inquired.

"Something that will get us back to King's Port, to the wall," Yuuri hoped, walking up to the ring and grasping it. "I'm done being here!" Kenjirou had to agree, walking up to them.

It was at that point, the ring glowed with yellow light, and then—rapidly the light enveloped around everyone else, elevating them from off the ground. Could it be?

The three kids were then stretched towards the ring and then shrunk. They disappeared away from sight, leaving everything that had ever happened, from the monsters and Sir Christophe, behind.

x0x

"Oof!" all three of them carped, landing on their bottoms near the docks of King's Port. Kenjirou gazed around and cheered, "We're back!"

Mari snorted; about time that they did. As she dusted herself off, she then noticed Yuuri on the ground, sulking like a saddened child. "Yuuri, what up?"

His eyes were glazed over, thinking about what had happened. "Phichit… he's being held hostage by that guy and his boss… whoever he is."

Mari gripped her fist. "Yuuri," she knelt down by him, "I know how you feel; to have someone missing from you. If anything, we're gonna find a way to bring Phichit back home. I don't know how, but we gotta try. Otherwise…" she stared at the sky. She didn't want to think about it or perturb her brother anymore. She then felt a hand on her shoulder, as Yuuri was standing up.

"I know," he calmly told her. What was the point of lashing out at her? From what mom said, 'anger and joking around do not solve any problems'. If anything, Yuuri would most likely have a bucket on his head. "I don't want to imagine how Lord Cialdini would feel about this…"

"Um, if I could, what relation does your friend Phichit have with Lord Cialidini?" Kenjirou asked, fiddling with his fingers.

"Phichit is Lord Cialidini's apprentice, and now apparently… his foster son." Mari explained, rubbing her neck at one point.

"His parents kinda… well, we don't know the full story, I don't think anyone else knows either…" Yuuri sheepish cringed.

"My gosh!" Kenjirou squeezed his cheeks.

"C'mon, let's get to the wall, we need to find out where the next ring is!" the chubby teen suggested, wanting to leave this conversation behind them. He darted first, wanting to get there, quick!

"And an inn for the night too," Mari breathed, following suit with Kenjirou behind her.

x0x

After going down the tunnel again, they were before the Granite Wall again; after the group had done their map-spiel, a white circle appeared on the paper, this time, over a dark, forest area. Specifically, over a dark-looking mansion.

"Does this forest place have a name?" Mari pouted.

Kenjirou rubbed his chin. "Hm, I can't put my finger on it, but I think we can find a way there,"

Mari grunted, hoping it wouldn't take long like their last journey.

"Yeah, but c'mon, I need a break from this adventure…" the young woman commented, walking away from the altar.

Yuuri padded behind her, shifting his glasses. "I hope there's a payphone somewhere… I wanna tell mom all about our trip so far!"

Kenjirou pouted, slumping over and slowly following behind them.


End file.
